Find All Word between < and > with Regex

Question

I want to find word between < and > from a String.

For example:

String str=your mobile number is <A> and username is <B> thanks <C>;

I want to get A, B, C from the String.

I have tried

import java.util.regex.*;

public class Main
{
  public static void main (String[] args)
  {
     String example = your mobile number is <A> and username is <B> thanks <C>;
     Matcher m = Pattern.compile("\\<([^)]+)\\>").matcher(example);
     while(m.find()) {
       System.out.println(m.group(1));    
     }
  }
}

What's wrong with what I am doing?

Answer 1

Use the following idiom and back-reference to get the values for your A, B and C placeholders:

String example = "your mobile number is <A> and username is <B> thanks <C>";
//                           ┌ left delimiter - no need to escape here
//                           | ┌ group 1: 1+ of any character, reluctantly quantified
//                           | |   ┌ right delimiter
//                           | |   |
Matcher m = Pattern.compile("<(.+?)>").matcher(example);
while (m.find()) {
    System.out.println(m.group(1));
}

Output

A
B
C

Note

If you favor a solution with no indexed back-reference, and "look-arounds", you can achieve the same with the following code:

String example = "your mobile number is <A> and username is <B> thanks <C>";
//                            ┌ positive look-behind for left delimiter
//                            |    ┌ 1+ of any character, reluctantly quantified
//                            |    |   ┌ positive look-ahead for right delimiter
//                            |    |   |
Matcher m = Pattern.compile("(?<=<).+?(?=>)").matcher(example);
while (m.find()) {
    // no index for back-reference here, catching main group
    System.out.println(m.group());
}

I personally find the latter less readable in this instance.

Answer 2

You need to use > or <> inside the negated character class. [^)]+ in your regex matches any charcater but not of ), one or more times. So this would match also the < or > symbols.

 Matcher m = Pattern.compile("<([^<>]+)>").matcher(example);
 while(m.find()) {
   System.out.println(m.group(1));
 }

OR

Use lookarounds.

 Matcher m = Pattern.compile("(?<=<)[^<>]*(?=>)").matcher(example);
 while(m.find()) {
   System.out.println(m.group());
 }

Answer 3

Can you please try this?

public static void main(String[] args) {
        String example = "your mobile number is <A> and username is <B> thanks <C>";
        Matcher m = Pattern.compile("\\<(.+?)\\>").matcher(example);
        while(m.find()) {
            System.out.println(m.group(1));
        }
    }